Champion of a Lost Cause

Effruin stands beneath the inn's stair, while Harvess watches from the private room above. Andreas and Caroline flank her, each positioned beside a guarded exit.

The room bears no welcome. Chairs have been cleared from the center, the shutters are barred, and Harvess's ancient bow rests within easy reach against the table.

Andreas rolls her wand once between violet fingers, crimson eyes fixed on him. Caroline leans against the opposite wall, shortswords sheathed but unmistakably ready.

The guards, two adult men in dark leather uniforms with close-cropped hair and barred-shield insignia, move to close the stair, but Effruin reaches Harvess first. Andreas's wand snaps up too late, and Caroline's hand closes on an empty hilt.

Effruin stands within arm's reach of the matriarch. Her ancient bow remains against the table, close enough for her hand, while Andreas and Caroline are forced to attack around him.

Harvess does not retreat. Her lined face hardens as she studies the missing arm, the scarred back beneath his cloak, and the vengeance that has finally reached her door.

The words settle over the private room like ash. Matriarch Harvess's fingers pause inches from the ancient bow, while her daughters measure the distance between his hand and her throat.

Matriarch Harvess takes the bow from the table but does not draw it. The guards hold the stair, yet none interrupts; this answer belongs first to mother and son.

Effruin drives his forehead into Matriarch Harvess's face before her bow can rise. The impact snaps her head back, and blood spills from her broken nose onto her dark robes.

Matriarch Harvess staggers against the table, one hand clamping over her nose while the ancient bow clatters across the floor. Effruin's brow splits against her hard skull.

Andreas thrusts her wand toward Effruin, violet light gathering at its tip. Caroline draws one shortsword and steps around Matriarch Harvess, searching for a clear angle.

The guards, one broad-shouldered and square-jawed, the other lean with a crooked nose surge forward at the stair, their barred shields striking the floor in alarm. Matriarch Harvess lifts her bleeding face, fury replacing the shock, and reaches again for her bow.

The broad-shouldered guard lunges up the stair with his shield raised. Effruin catches the front of his leather harness and pivots, dragging the man bodily into the line of fire.

Andreas releases the gathered spell. Violet force lashes across the room and strikes the guard instead, folding him against Effruin as his shield drops with a heavy crack.

The broad-shouldered guard collapses to one knee, stunned and smoking at the edges of his dark leather coat. Effruin releases him, leaving the obstruction between Andreas and her family.

Harvess snatches up the ancient bow and retreats around the table, blood still marking her face. Andreas lowers her wand for one startled breath, her spell having failed to reach Effruin.

Effruin surges through the gap before Andreas can recover. His hand clamps her wand wrist, and his body twists, wrenching the weapon free.

He drives the wand toward her eye, but Andreas jerks sideways at the last instant. The tip strikes beside her face and embeds in the table.

Violet force erupts through the lodged wand. Andreas is hurled against the wall, stunned, while the table splits around the weapon and Harvess recoils behind it.

The flare strips the room's shadows bare. Behind the table, a narrow servants' door appears in the paneling, its lock glowing with the same violet sigil as Andreas's wand.

Effruin pivots and drives his foot into the table's edge. The heavy table skids sideways across the room, smashing into Caroline's legs and pinning them against the wall.

Caroline collapses behind the overturned table, one hand clawing at the floor while her shortsword spins beyond reach. She cannot rise or pursue.

The table's impact booms through the inn, shaking dust from the beams and drawing answering shouts below. The noise has exposed the private room to the whole house.

Splintered wood catches Effruin's ankle as he withdraws, bruising it sharply, but Caroline remains crippled beneath the wreckage and the servants' door stands open behind her.

Effruin surges over the splintered table before Andreas can recover, seizing her and dragging her down amid the violet-lit wreckage.

The struggle vanishes behind the overturned table and the servants' door. When it ends, Andreas is left blind and helpless on the floor.

Matriarch Harvess retreats toward the open passage, bow raised with shaking hands. Caroline remains pinned beneath the table, cursing through clenched teeth.

Below, the inn erupts with boots and shouted orders. Above the din, Matriarch Harvess faces the passage, trapped between escape and the son who has reached her household.

Effruin crosses the room in a sudden blur. His snap-kick slams into Matriarch Harvess's legs, breaking her stance and sending her crashing beside the open passage.

The ancient bow skids from Harvess's grasp. She claws at the floor, unable to stand, while the servants' passage yawns behind her and boots thunder below.

Harvess tries to pull herself backward, but pain buckles her arms. Blood from her broken nose stains the boards as Effruin's shadow falls across her.

Behind the wrecked table, Caroline remains trapped. Andreas lies blind and helpless in the violet-lit debris, while the guards' alarmed voices rise from the stairwell.

Effruin snatches Matriarch Harvess's ancient bow from the boards and steps over her. The weapon becomes a club in his remaining hand.

He strikes her again and again, driving the bow against her until her protests break into silence. The blows thunder through the room.

Behind the wrecked table, Caroline screams curses. Andreas remains helpless in the violet-lit debris, while guards pound up the stair toward the chamber.

Effruin does not stop until Harvess lies cold and still beside the servants' passage. The floor is darkened beneath her, and the ancient bow is cracked in his grasp.

The cost arrives with the victory: the noise has summoned the guards, and Effruin's bruised ankle worsens beneath him as the private room fills with alarm.

Effruin turns from Harvess's still form and crosses to the overturned table. Caroline strains beneath it, trapped and furious, while guards thunder up the stair.

Effruin wrenches the cracked ancient bow from his grasp into a killing weapon, then leans over the wreckage and forces Caroline's head back.

He drives the broken bow through her mouth and continues without pause until the weapon passes through her skull. The act is swift, final, and unseen beneath the table's shadow.

Caroline's resistance ends. The bow remains lodged through her, its cracked limbs jutting beyond the wreckage as blood and splintered wood mark the ruined floor.

The stairwell erupts with armored boots. Harvess lies dead, Caroline is still, and Andreas remains helpless amid the violet-lit debris as the guards reach the chamber.

The guards crest the stair with barred shields raised. Effruin meets them in the doorway, his fury turning the cramped chamber into a storm of motion.

He crashes into the broad-shouldered guard, wrenching the man off balance and driving him back down the stairs. The lean guard lunges around them.

Effruin pivots beneath the shield, strikes the guard's legs away, and sends him sprawling across the landing. Steel clatters while the inn below erupts in frightened shouting.

The broad-shouldered guard rises behind him. Effruin seizes the fallen man's shield, turns its rim into the attack, and batters both guards until their resistance ends.

When silence returns, the stair is blocked by the two motionless guards. Effruin still holds Harvess's cracked bow, its limbs stained and splintered from the killing blow.

The cost is immediate: a sword edge has cut Effruin's left shoulder, and blood darkens his cloak. Below, witnesses scatter as alarm bells begin ringing through Tahu.

Effruin kneels beside Andreas amid the violet-lit wreckage. The guards lie motionless on the stair, while alarm bells carry through Tahu below.

Andreas's defiance falters beneath the confession. Her fingers twitch against the splintered boards, searching blindly for a weapon that is no longer there.

The information gives Effruin a clear escape route and a waiting transport below the inn. Andreas turns her sightless face toward him, listening for his answer.

Effruin kneels beside Andreas and feeds flame to Harvess's cracked bow. Fire crawls along the splintered wood, reflected in Andreas's sightless eyes.

Effruin presses the burning bow against her. The wreckage catches, and Andreas's cries vanish beneath the bells and shouting below. The moment passes into smoke and silence.

The fire leaps from table to curtains, racing across the private room and licking into the stairwell. Andreas lies still as flames consume the ruin around her.

Heat drives Effruin back. His wounded shoulder tears open against a splintered beam, and fresh blood darkens his cloak as smoke thickens.

Below, guests flee into Tahu's night while buckets and shouted orders answer the spreading blaze. The inn has become an inferno, and Effruin's escape route fills with smoke.

Andreas is dead, the family reckoning ended in fire. Through the servants' passage, the old cistern remains his only clear route beneath the burning inn.